North Korea on Thursday reiterated its warning of nuclear warfare, with a top North Korean military leader saying that the North is ready to launch a “sacred war” against South Korea on the basis of its “nuclear deterrent.”

According to the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Young-chun, minister of the People’s Armed Forces, made the warning while reading a report during a ceremony in Pyongyang marking the 19th anniversary of leader Kim Jong-il gaining supreme commandership of the Korean People’s Army (KPA).

“The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK (North Korea) are getting fully prepared to launch a sacred war of justice of Korean style based on the nuclear deterrent at any time necessary to cope with the enemies’ actions deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war,” Kim was quoted by the KCNA as saying in the report.

Referring to the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula, Kim went on to say that the South Korean forces perpetrated such military provocations as shellings against North Korea during their recent exercises for a war of aggression in the Yellow Sea.

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Its funny, it all sounds very menacing but nobody here in South Korea seems especially worried. Flights in and out of Incheon airport, right next to Seoul (not at all far from the DMZ), have not been delayed or grounded or anything. The Embassy hasn’t asked me to register with them and none of my neighbors, some of whom have relatives in the army, seem worried about it. When I ask them, they just shrug and say what amounts to “this is what you deal with when you live next to a batshit loony motherfucker”.

Whatever it says, North Korea knows it can’t fight a war very long, but it can push the limits of provocation a bit further than in years past since everyone knows the US has no desire to get into another war and possible nation-building. Koreans will all say they want reunification, but the cost to the economy (which has been surviving the global economic downturn quite well) can’t be ignored. And with the question mark hanging over the nuclear weapon question, everyone is a bit hestitant to let it come to blows.

Tuna Ghost

Its funny, it all sounds very menacing but nobody here in South Korea seems especially worried. Flights in and out of Incheon airport, right next to Seoul (not at all far from the DMZ), have not been delayed or grounded or anything. The Embassy hasn’t asked me to register with them and none of my neighbors, some of whom have relatives in the army, seem worried about it. When I ask them, they just shrug and say what amounts to “this is what you deal with when you live next to a batshit loony motherfucker”.

Whatever it says, North Korea knows it can’t fight a war very long, but it can push the limits of provocation a bit further than in years past since everyone knows the US has no desire to get into another war and possible nation-building. Koreans will all say they want reunification, but the cost to the economy (which has been surviving the global economic downturn quite well) can’t be ignored. And with the question mark hanging over the nuclear weapon question, everyone is a bit hestitant to let it come to blows.

MoralDrift

you pretty much summed it up. One point I would add, this conflict will erupt one way or another. Best case scenario N. Korea implodes politically…from there on out who knows what would happen but potentially pragmatic interim leadership could negotiate reunification. The other scenarios are grim. The fact is Korea is not a tinderbox, it is more like a dam about to break…the dmz is a dam holding back two unbalanced halves of a single nation. It is impossible for change not to occur.

Tuna Ghost

Most believe the country will eventually be unified, but there’s no way to tell when that will happen. A lot of people are thinking all of this is just a display to mark the passing of leadership from Kim Jong-Il to his son, who by the looks of things plans to continue the lunacy of his father: starving hundreds of thousands of his own people to death, making noise about fighting South Korea or Japan or the Moon, and accepting UN aid as payment for his not actually doing any of the crazy shit he says he will do.

How long North Korea can last like this is anybody’s guess. Maybe the son is saner than we all think and will make efforts toward reunification after the Kim Jong-Il finally dies, but it doesn’t look that way.

Arnold

Yip, also in Korea and I concur.

DeutschBag

you pretty much summed it up. One point I would add, this conflict will erupt one way or another. Best case scenario N. Korea implodes politically…from there on out who knows what would happen but potentially pragmatic interim leadership could negotiate reunification. The other scenarios are grim. The fact is Korea is not a tinderbox, it is more like a dam about to break…the dmz is a dam holding back two unbalanced halves of a single nation. It is impossible for change not to occur.

Arnold

Yip, also in Korea and I concur.

http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

North Korea ready to become “sacred smoking crater”. Film at 11.

http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

North Korea ready to become “sacred smoking crater”. Film at 11.

Tuna Ghost

Most believe the country will eventually be unified, but there’s no way to tell when that will happen. A lot of people are thinking all of this is just a display to mark the passing of leadership from Kim Jong-Il to his son, who by the looks of things plans to continue the lunacy of his father: starving hundreds of thousands of his own people to death, making noise about fighting South Korea or Japan or the Moon, and accepting UN aid as payment for his not actually doing any of the crazy shit he says he will do.

How long North Korea can last like this is anybody’s guess. Maybe the son is saner than we all think and will make efforts toward reunification after the Kim Jong-Il finally dies, but it doesn’t look that way.